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<title>14. Generic Operating System Services </title>
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<h1><a name="SECTION0016000000000000000000"></a><a name="allos"></a>
<br>
14. Generic Operating System Services 
</h1>

<p>
The modules described in this chapter provide interfaces to operating
system features that are available on (almost) all operating systems,
such as files and a clock.  The interfaces are generally modeled
after the <span class="Unix">Unix</span> or C interfaces, but they are available on most
other systems as well.  Here's an overview:

<p>
<table class='synopsistable' valign='baseline'>
  <tr class='oddrow'>
      <td><b><tt class='module'><a href='module-os.html'>os</a></tt></b></td>
      <td>&nbsp;</td>
      <td class='synopsis'>Miscellaneous operating system interfaces.</td></tr>
  <tr><td><b><tt class='module'><a href='module-time.html'>time</a></tt></b></td>
      <td>&nbsp;</td>
      <td class='synopsis'>Time access and conversions.</td></tr>
  <tr class='oddrow'>
      <td><b><tt class='module'><a href='module-optparse.html'>optparse</a></tt></b></td>
      <td>&nbsp;</td>
      <td class='synopsis'>More convenient, flexible, and powerful command-line parsing library.</td></tr>
  <tr><td><b><tt class='module'><a href='module-getopt.html'>getopt</a></tt></b></td>
      <td>&nbsp;</td>
      <td class='synopsis'>Portable parser for command line options; support both
                short and long option names.</td></tr>
  <tr class='oddrow'>
      <td><b><tt class='module'><a href='module-logging.html'>logging</a></tt></b></td>
      <td>&nbsp;</td>
      <td class='synopsis'>Logging module for Python based on <a class="rfc" id='rfcref-101454' xml:id='rfcref-101454'
href="http://www.python.org/peps/pep-0282.html">PEP 282</a>.</td></tr>
  <tr><td><b><tt class='module'><a href='module-getpass.html'>getpass</a></tt></b></td>
      <td>&nbsp;</td>
      <td class='synopsis'>Portable reading of passwords and retrieval of the userid.</td></tr>
  <tr class='oddrow'>
      <td><b><tt class='module'><a href='module-curses.html'>curses</a></tt></b></td>
      <td>&nbsp;</td>
      <td class='synopsis'>An interface to the curses library, providing portable
                terminal handling.</td></tr>
  <tr><td><b><tt class='module'><a href='module-curses.textpad.html'>curses.textpad</a></tt></b></td>
      <td>&nbsp;</td>
      <td class='synopsis'>Emacs-like input editing in a curses window.</td></tr>
  <tr class='oddrow'>
      <td><b><tt class='module'><a href='module-curses.wrapper.html'>curses.wrapper</a></tt></b></td>
      <td>&nbsp;</td>
      <td class='synopsis'>Terminal configuration wrapper for curses programs.</td></tr>
  <tr><td><b><tt class='module'><a href='module-curses.ascii.html'>curses.ascii</a></tt></b></td>
      <td>&nbsp;</td>
      <td class='synopsis'>Constants and set-membership functions for
                ASCII characters.</td></tr>
  <tr class='oddrow'>
      <td><b><tt class='module'><a href='module-curses.panel.html'>curses.panel</a></tt></b></td>
      <td>&nbsp;</td>
      <td class='synopsis'>A panel stack extension that adds depth to 
                curses windows.</td></tr>
  <tr><td><b><tt class='module'><a href='module-platform.html'>platform</a></tt></b></td>
      <td>&nbsp;</td>
      <td class='synopsis'>Retrieves as much platform identifying data as possible.</td></tr>
  <tr class='oddrow'>
      <td><b><tt class='module'><a href='module-errno.html'>errno</a></tt></b></td>
      <td>&nbsp;</td>
      <td class='synopsis'>Standard errno system symbols.</td></tr>
  <tr><td><b><tt class='module'><a href='module-ctypes.html'>ctypes</a></tt></b></td>
      <td>&nbsp;</td>
      <td class='synopsis'>A foreign function library for Python.</td></tr>
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<span class="release-info">Release 2.5.1, documentation updated on 18th April, 2007.</span>
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